Mostly event announcements, news, and bicycle related activist opinions... Download Critical Mass flyers and posters, or upload your own Email vancouvercm~AT~gmail~DOT~com for a posting password Yes, we ride the last Friday of every month!

Do you have a bike? Do you like riding it? At night? Pack some warm socks,dig up some bike lights, and start thinking of tasty ways to make booze hot-- the next midnight ride is the Thursday before Critical Mass.

Meet 11:45 pm at Grandview Park (Commercial Drive at Charles Street --across from the Havana and Turks) and ride at midnight.

Join fellow bicyclists, skaters, and bladers for a leisurely and spiritedride and roll through the streets of Vancouver celebrating Winter Solsticeand the last ride of 1006!

Meet at the Vancouver Art Gallery on the Georgia Street side between 5:00and 5:30 p.m., and roll and ride at 6:00 p.m. The ride is on rain, shine,or snow! Illuminated and decorated bicycles, trailers, costumes, signs,flags, noisemakers, gettoblasters and sound systems, drums, and wildlymodified bicycles are all highly encouraged. After the ride is a Velofusionparty starting 8:00 p.m. at the ANZA Club, 3 West 8th at the Ontario BikeRoute.

Celebrated around the world, Critical Mass is a grassroots reclamation of

public space -- on the last Friday of the month -- which allows cyclistsand other self-propelled people to move safely and comfortably through citystreets in a car-free space. Non-polluting forms of transportation arepromoted.

The Velofusion Critical Mass afterparty is going to be hot hot HOT -- sobrave the cold with cause and clever constructions all! CR Avery (and more)will be playing at the Anza for y'all after Mass. Plus DJ's, pizza, movies,performances and dancing!

Where: The Anza Club, #3 West 8th Avenue at the Ontario bike route.Cost: $5 if you arrive with Critical Mass, $10 otherwiseTime: 8pm to 1:30am

This is part of the Velofusion community fund raiser project. All moneyraised goes back into supporting community projects.

An on-line petition has been created that calls for the Canadian FederalGovernment to create cycling related tax incentives. Please considersigning the petition and passing this on to your friends and other lists.

A reminder that there's an idling complaints hotline at 604-257-2404 whereyou can phone-in licence plate numbers of offenders. The City is not givingout tickets yet -- but are gathering data and the Hotline welcomesinformation on idlers. Better to make a quick phone call than suffer acoronary from Eco Rage!

In July, 2006, Vancouver City Council unanimously passed an anti-idlingbylaw to cut air pollution. Drivers who leave a car running for more thanthree minutes face a $50 fine and the fine doubles to $100 for anyonecaught leaving a car running. However, fines were not to be imposed untilJanuary, 2006 -- a six month period. The District of North Vancouver passeda bylaw against idling in 2000, but has yet to ticket anybody with a $45fine. The City of North Vancouver has had the bylaw on its books for a year.

20.12.06

X Mass? Dec29

Critical X-Mass:

picture of the pumpkin chariot/santa sled march 2001, not dressedup. The chariot is pulled by 8 pedalling 'reindeer.'

So once again December Mass is upon us. December 29th, last friday of the month. This is the one ride of the year that is always going to be smaller, because of the time of year and people's holidays. It is important to make it fun, especially if the weather is offputting.

We've had the 'Santa Sled' in previous years [The chariot is pulled by 8 pedalling 'reindeer']. But that doesn't exist anymore [but easy to make]. The ride will be after the 25th, and Xmas is not for everybody. I don't know what constitutes a New Years theme? We've had Christmas lights rides in the past and as Cara was busy organising the BikeCraft fair this year no one else has organised one so far as I know. Hot coco and bikes? We've also had Lee lead us in carolling with cunning anti-car lyrics.

There is a lot of potential, but it takes a little imagination. I'm just putting the idea out there to get people thinking. What kind of themes? costumes? activities? ways to make it fun should we try? The political topic of opposing highway expansion is [unfortunately] always current.

Now that CM is a lot bigger phenomenon than it use to be, perhaps some activity to take advantage of the numbers would be appropriate. One year with the santa sled CM on New Years Eve, we met a formation of bicycle police that outnumbered the ride [less than a dozen] who were friendly, but it was funny to think of what 'critical' means. The past few years the December Mass is never so tiny. Always a larger group, I remember the first year we had more than 40 in December and Fred Bass was there, but now it is even bigger. The energy is always superb because people who come out to ride in December are not just half into it.

16.12.06

Harmonizer! Saturday December 16

Boogie down with your bike-riding homies as we celebrate the 25th issue ofMomentum, the Magazine for Self-propelled People.

Witness the premiere of CLANCY'S ANGELS ­ a postmodern rock gospelsuper-group with power choir ­ performing both spirituals and monumentalsongs by Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, George Harrison and others.

The REVOLUTIONISTS will rock the dance floor at the end of the night withtheir unique blend of booty-boggling quadruple-DJ action.

1.12.06

China Creek Needs You!

If you cycle the 10th ave bike route past Clark, chances are you've been to China Creek and already know what's been going on. It's a classic example of us not being taken seriously and it's complete horseshit. Maybe you've been going to the meetings for the last... what... two years now? Or maybe you only made it to the last one when Vancouver parks planner Michel Desrochers announced that he's going to recommend to the Parks Board that they bulldoze the oldest skatepark in Vancouver. A park that gets used on a daily basis by skateboarders and cyclists of all ages and skill levels. The planners will be presenting their recommendation to city council in early December and a decision will be made within the first couple months 2007. Now would be a great time to let our park board commissioners know what you think:

So whether you're long burnt out on the process by now or are just getting involved at the 11th hour, take the time to send a few e-mails. Skateboarding was, is, and always should be punk rock... and China Creek is as punk rock as skateparks come. Don't let it go without raising some shit. - Jeff Chan (grand_wazoo@.@.com@hotmail)